Verge Staff

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Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge

Policy

The fight for net neutrality is forever

We&rsquo;re reflecting on everything from LAN parties to geopolitical squabbles for the 50th anniversary of ethernet: a technology that has enabled the whole world to become connected in ways that once only lived in the realm of fantasy. But perhaps the fundamental story of the internet &mdash; the one that ties all of these things together as much as the cables that bind us &mdash; is a collection of principles now known as net neutrality. Net neutrality is possibly the policy story we&rsquo;ve covered the most over the lifetime of The Verge, and that story may never end as long as humans are connected. Just like the roads that have linked people for thousands of years, the cables that now span the planet are a central part of human politics.
What we now think of as &ldquo;the internet&rdquo; is as endlessly diverse as the people who use it. For a lot of people around the world, the internet is just the Facebook app on their phone. For others, it&rsquo;s TikTok and Fortnite. And for some, it&rsquo;s memories of posting in Delphi forums and IRC chatrooms. But no matter what the internet is to each of us, it&rsquo;s all been made possible by a sprawling system of global infrastructure that &mdash; for much of internet history &mdash; has operated under the egalitarian idea that all traffic should be treated equally. Which is to say: your ISP shouldn&rsquo;t care whether the data that you&rsquo;re requesting is for a YouTube video or a New York Times article. That&rsquo;s the essence of net neutrality: the idea that those who provide access to the internet shouldn&rsquo;t discriminate between the requests of users or the people and companies that create websites or services.
But as the internet transitioned from a quirky anecdote on &rsquo;90s morning television to a driving economic force, and as internet service providers consolidated into juggernauts, a familiar cycle repeated itself: the owners of essential infrastructure got greedy. And as watchdogs saw a looming crisis, the fight for net neutrality began. On the side of net neutrality was a coalition of people and organizations who believed that the internet&rsquo;s historical openness should be codified by law; on the other side were powerful interests that saw profit in gatekeeping. And then there are some who just got caught in the crossfire.
Even though progress can feel inevitable, the best laws and regulations are never really permanent; they require maintenance from every generation. And as we have seen broadly in recent years, our institutions require collective faith to thrive. That includes the internet, which is much more than just a series of tubes. Despite all of its pitfalls, the internet represents a fundamentally hopeful belief that we can all seek each other out and find knowledge, enrichment, and connection. That&rsquo;s what The Verge is all about. And it&rsquo;s still worth fighting for.
This stream contains our most vital net neutrality coverage since our founding in 2011. From victories to setbacks, it offers a full picture of the struggle to preserve one of our most vital inventions and to expand its access equally to everyone around the world.

On ethernet’s 50th anniversary, we’re looking back on more than a decade of net neutrality coverage.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr deletes net neutrality rules.

Net neutrality eviscerated by appeals court ruling

FCC and the broadband industry argue net neutrality’s future

Net neutrality is on ice

Appeals court halts return of net neutrality

FCC votes to restore net neutrality

Net neutrality is about to make a comeback

FCC will vote on restoring net neutrality rules

The FCC will vote to reinstate net neutrality.

FCC kicks off fight to restore net neutrality

FCC announces plans to resurrect net neutrality rules

The White House might be running out of time to bring back net neutrality

Democrats revive the fight for net neutrality

Biden signs executive order targeting right to repair, ISPs, net neutrality, and more

The court allowed the FCC to kill net neutrality because washing machines can’t make phone calls

California is leading the state-by-state fight for net neutrality

Here’s how companies have flouted net neutrality before and what made them stop

Net neutrality is dead — what happens next?

Rogue One is actually about internet freedom

What public libraries will lose without net neutrality

Congress took $101 million in donations from the ISP industry — here’s how much your lawmaker got

Photos from inside the Protect Net Neutrality protests

As net neutrality dies, one man wants to make Verizon pay for its sins

The internet is fucked (again)

FCC announces plan to reverse Title II net neutrality

The Dragonslayer

Will the FCC’s new net neutrality rules hold up in court?

Inside Tumblr and the battle for net neutrality

F-bombs and death threats: Americans rip the FCC on net neutrality

Who’s fighting to save the internet now?

Your corporate internet nightmare starts now

The internet is fucked

The wrong words: how the FCC lost net neutrality and could kill the internet

Samsung’s wider Z Fold 8 feels just right

The new Halo remake is a reminder of what Xbox used to be

Google hit with $1 billion fine for breaking EU antitrust rules

The right-wing boomers protesting data centers have a lot in common with the left

The sci-fi movie that imagines AI isn’t so dystopian after all

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